Should I Stop?
by Perydot
Summary: Being nervous wasn't something new to Armin Arlert. Being nervous around the new dishwasher at his job, however, was something to new to him. [Modern AU - Gift-fic - Edited]


Okay, he was willing to admit that he was a little jumpy – a little nervous – all of the time. It was just his way. If someone suddenly said something to him, he would jump up in surprise. If someone tapped him on the shoulder, he would let out a little shriek. If one of his childhood friends decided to take advantage of his nervousness and ambushed him with a hug, he would let out a "Holy shit!" or two. Nervousness wasn't something new to Armin Arlert. Nervousness – along with clumsiness, prolonged stares, blushing, and a pounding heart – around the new dishwasher at his job was _definitely _something new to him.

At first, Armin didn't even look the new guy in the face when he dropped off the dirty dishes and utensils. It was a busy night - high school graduations and the like - so there was no reason for him to bother with some newbie. The back of that two-toned, dark and light brown head was all he saw of him.

It wasn't until the end of the night that Armin realized how incredibly attractive that new guy was. He may have stared at him for a little bit too long, he wasn't really sure. All Armin knew was that the new guy was laughing at him. "Hey, Blondie, take a picture! It'll last longer."

"I-I don't need one! What are you talking about?" Now, Armin wasn't _that_ stupid; he knew exactly what he was talking about. The blush he was trying to hide behind his blond bangs could attest to that fact.

"Mhmm, sure," the other guy laughed. "Well, Blondie, when you think about me tonight, remember that my name's Jean. Jean Kirstein." Armin scoffed at Jean's cockiness, but had to make sure his hair was still hiding his blush. Jean smirked at him before walking out to go do…whatever it was he did after his work was done.

Except, he wasn't really done. Every day at work Jean did something to get a rise out of Armin. Sometimes Jean would stay after the restaurant closed and would hang out with the rest of the staff. And when he was there, Armin would, as he explained, "accidentally" or "unintentionally" stare at Jean as he talked or laughed or listened to someone or nodded in agreement or showed someone a picture on his phone or… well, the point is that Armin stared at Jean a lot and just long enough for Jean to turn and catch him in the act before Armin could look away.

He wouldn't say anything about it, though. Maybe it was him being nice since he knew that their coworkers Connie, Sasha, and Ymir would make Armin's life absolutely unbearable with the constant teasing of his "crush" on the dish boy. But it was way more likely that Jean just wanted to keep it to himself, so he could constantly tease Armin. In fact, that seemed like the _only_ reason.

Whenever Armin went to the back to drop off a set of dirty dishes, Jean would always get extremely close to him. Jean's hot breath would tickle Armin's neck, his teeth would graze or nip his earlobe, his wet, soapy hands would drip onto Armin's uniform, his body heat would make Armin's temperature rise a few good degrees. "Thanks, Blondie," he would whisper in his ear before going on with his work, leaving Armin would a red face that could rival a tomato.

Whenever Jean went out on his lunch break, he'd make sure to pass by Armin. He'd walk up behind him and slide his hands up and down Armin's side, making him jump and drop all of the dishes he was holding onto the table. By the time people turned to look at what happened, Jean was already walking away, trying to hide the huge smirk on his face.

Whenever Armin was on his lunch break, Jean would always ambush him. He'd tapped his shoulder and make Armin jump in his seat. He'd wrap his arm around Armin's neck and make Armin curse like a sailor. Sometimes, he could simply next to him, doing absolutely nothing, and Armin would freak out and nearly fall out of his chair.

Tonight was one of those nights of Jean's teasing. The restaurant was closing up, with half of the lights already turned off. Armin was sitting back in the kitchen, texting his friend Eren that he'd be coming home late because he was going to hang out with his coworkers. A small smile formed on his lips when he saw Eren's response. _"Don't do anything that'll make Mikasa get on your case."_

_"Of course I won't."_

_"And don't drink. You can't handle your liquor."_

_"What are you talking about?! Of course I can!"_

_"Do you not remember Mikasa's birthday party? You nearly puked on one of her presents!"_

_"We don't talk about such things, Eren…"_ Armin felt so embarrassed, but he smiled in spite of it.

"Hmph! I wonder who's got you so happy." Armin nearly fell off the kitchen counter when he heard Jean's voice. "Always the jumpy one, Blondie," Jean laughed. He was leaning his back against the table opposite Armin.

"It's not like I can help it…" Armin mumbled. He let his bangs fall in front of his face to hide the blush on his face.

Jean's light brown eyes fell to Armin's phone and his smile disappeared. "Are you talking to a friend? Or… a _boy_friend?"

Armin looked up at Jean with a confused look on his face. "Boy…boyfriend?" Jean avoided his eyes, crossing his arms. "Are you…you can't be… _jealous_, right?" Jean cleared his throat, but didn't say anything. "Oh, oh wow!" Armin laughed.

"Shut up, Blondie!" Jean said as his cheeks started to turn pink.

"I didn't know someone like you could be jealous."

"I-I'm not jealous! I'm just concerned that all my flirting may have gone to waste…" Jean quickly looked up at Armin before looking at the clean kitchen floor. "You know, if you had a boyfriend."

It was quiet for a few seconds. "Your 'flirting' hasn't gone to waste. I don't have a boyfriend."

"Good."

"Good?"

"Yeah, good." Jean looked up at the blond boy. "Since you don't have a boyfriend, it means I can keep flirting with you and see how unbelievably cute you get when you're nervous…" Armin's face flushed pink and he fidgeted with his phone. "Or would you prefer I stop?"

"No!" Armin said a bit too forcefully. His blue eyes widened when he realized how assertive he sounded and his face flushed an even darker pink. "I-I-I mean, y-y-yes, you should stop."

Jean smirked. "Judging by your reaction, I don't think I should."

"I… I was just confused by what you said." Armin scratched the back of his neck nervously as he smiled at Jean. "You _should_ stop."

Jean continued to smirk at the blond boy, uncrossing his arms and leaning closer to him. Armin's eyes widened as Jean got closer and closer to him, his breath tickling his ear. "Maybe I should…" Jean whispered. "But maybe I shouldn't and keep this up for the both of us."

"W-w-what are you – ha!" Armin gasped right as Jean planted a kiss on his lips. It didn't last long. It was barely more than a peck on the lips, but it was the best thing that had happened to him in the past five months!

Jean pulled back to stare at Armin. His face was bright red and his eyes were wide with shock. Armin looked up at Jean, but quickly looked down at his lap. He had three new messages from Eren. "You look so adorable right now, you know," Jean commented with a laugh.

"Shut up," Armin mumbled with embarrassment. Jean started to chuckle when a voice caught both his and Armin's attention.

"Are you guys ready to go?" Connie, one of their coworkers, called out from the front.

"You guys better hurry up unless you want to be locked inside this place!" the busgirl Sasha yelled.

"Oh, I'm sure those two would love that," the waitress named Ymir said. Their three coworkers in the front were laughing by the time Jean and Armin walked out. Armin's face was still a bit pink, but he passed it off as being embarrassed from their joke, and most definitely not from a little peck on the lips. As the five of them started walking down the street to the local bar, Jean leaned to whisper something in Armin's ear.

"I'm not going to stop, just so you know."


End file.
